


A Little Itch

by George_Benji



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, church is the one who dies, that's it tho, tucker is a good father and friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-29 23:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15739164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/George_Benji/pseuds/George_Benji
Summary: Caboose's soulmate's name starts turning from it's normal blue color to a black color and it's keeping Caboose up at night.





	A Little Itch

So say it's been a while since the last time Caboose slept through the night. And, let's say he  _ can't _ sleep. It doesn't make sense to him because he, by all accounts,  _ should  _ be able to sleep. Nothing has changed in the past month…

 

At least, nothing that Caboose was aware of…

 

Caboose had gone to see his doctor about it, but all she said was that Caboose was probably dehydrated. Caboose drinks enough water! It couldn't have been that. 

 

This got him to thinking. His thought process had been something along the lines of, I'm not sure what's going on- why the soulmate-identifying mark on his wrist wouldn't stop itching and if it was causing his anxiety which was causing his insomnia. When he doesn't know things, he should ask for help from people who are able to understand and explain. He was awake so he might as well do it now. 

 

That was the thought process that led him to Tucker and Washington's doorstep at 4am on a tuesday morning.

 

“It's four am on a tuesday morning,” Tucker told Caboose who stood in his doorway, itching his left wrist. 

 

“I know!” Caboose smiled, but his hair was greasy from not having showered in a while and his eyes had dark sleep-deprived bruises under them. His chipper tune was off just a few chords.

 

“Jesus, alright- come on in. Wash and Junior are asleep though so if you start getting loud I'm kicking you right back onto that doorstep.” Tucker led Caboose to the living room couch and handed him the pillow they keep by the couch for when Caboose comes over. Tucker joined Caboose by sitting in an armchair near the couch.

 

“Tucker I need your help… unfortunately…” 

 

Tucker let out a sigh, “Okay I'll ignore that last part. Dude, you're going to need to stop itching at your soulmates name.” Tucker tried to move Caboose’s hand away, but Caboose flinched. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yes… Well, no. It hurts.” Caboose moved his hand away quick enough for Tucker to see his wrist was bright red.

 

“Do you want something to wrap it with so you'll stop itching?”

 

“No… Maybe… I don't know.” Caboose looked like he was close to tears.

 

Tucker had seen Caboose cry plenty of times. This time, however, was a bit different. “Hey, dude, what's up?” 

 

“I… I do not know what is happening, Tucker.” Caboose wrapped his arms around the pillow to keep himself from itching.

 

“When was the last time you slept, showered or ate anything?” 

 

“I think I took a shower on Wednesday.”

 

“Okay, exactly a week ago. What's up with that? Why haven't you been taking care of yourself?” There was a sound of someone standing up the floor above them, but Tucker made no move to kick Caboose out.

 

At this point, Caboose burst into tears. “Hurts.” was all he got out.

 

“Hey, dude, what hurts?” Caboose held out his wrist while he sniffed a few times. “Oh… oh no…” Tucker held his own wrist to compare the names.  _ David Washington  _ was a bight gold on Tucker's skin while the blue name that used to be on Caboose’s was faded to a black  _ Leonard Church. _ “When did it start changing?”

 

“Last month.” 

 

“Oh man, no wonder you haven't been by. And it still hurts?” Tucker's eyes seemed to have a primal type of fear in them, similar to when he found out he was pregnant with Junior. The only difference was the sympathetic smile Tucker was giving him.

 

“It still hurts,” Caboose confirmed.

 

“Okay… here, you should talk with Wash about this…” Just as Tucker was getting up to go get Wash, Wash rounded a corner from the stairs.

 

“Me?” Wash let out a yawn, donned in a t-shirt and briefs, he had clearly just woken up.

 

“Hey, babe, come have a look at Caboose’s wrist.” Tucker's voice was the softest Caboose had ever heard it. Well, second softest, but only to the moment Junior was born and Tucker got to hold him.

 

Wash could read a situation, and this situation looked identical to one he’d been in years before. Confused, scared and in pain. He knew that Caboose’s wrist would have a black name on it. He knew, but it still made his heart jump into his chest when he saw it.

 

“Oh… Shit.” Wash looked at Caboose, who was biting back tears. “Um… how much do you know about your situation?”

 

“My wrist hurts.”

 

“Okay… and how long has it been black-"

 

“A month,” Tucker answered.

 

“Right.” Wash thought back to the names on his wrist. There was an entire childhood he grew up seeing York, North and Maine’s gold purple and silver names. Until he met them in the military and lost them. Then a new name appeared,  _ Lavernius Tucker  _ in glittering teal. “Well, it should stop hurting in a few days then. And that feeling of dread should leave,” never, “a little while after…”

 

“Thank you Washington.” Caboose sniffled loudly and shoved his face into his pillow.

 

“Um, Caboose,” Wash brought his hand towards Caboose but decided against touching him, “you'll be okay.”

 

And he was, eventually. It took Caboose far less time than they'd thought for him to understand that his soulmate had died somehow. But it was okay, because despite Caboose never meeting the man of his dreams, he found out who the man had been. 

 

The man had another name on his wrist,  _ Allison Texas _ , blacked out. According to people who knew Church personally, he'd taken his own life after losing her. Tucker always held a certain level of contempt for a man who would do that to someone else, but Caboose didn't mind. He adopted a dog instead.

**Author's Note:**

> hewwo, i wuv writing angst. thank you for reading this <3 :)  
> my tumblr- georgebenji  
> my twitter- @bigbosshoss  
> my paypal- paypal.me/georgeaaronbenji
> 
> i do commisions- writing, art, and tarot readings :)


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